Time Travel: Unraveling the Miami Heat

[Myles Nelson]

Imagine a world where LeBron was never a part of the Miami Heat. Where loyalty meant something. Where Dwyane Wade was still a likable guy. Where Chris Bosh wasn't such a little girl. Where Dirk and Mavs never got their ring. Where Metta World Peace was still Ron Artest, and where Kris Humphries was still single.

Sounds like last June, right?

That's where I'll be taking you today. We'll be traveling back to the days after the Lakers had barely defeated the Celtics in seven games to be the NBA Champions. Rather than Pat Riley and his motley crew bringing the Vaunted 3 to Miami, it will be Myles Nelson, the brand new GM of the Heat, building a TEAM, not a group of stars. Let's wish me luck.

[Myles Nelson]

It's always tough to tell before the season how well you're going to do. It's even tougher when your roster looks like this.

Guards

None

Forwards

James Jones is a backup shooter who can run pretty well. He's an okay defender and a fifth wing man on a championship team, a backup SF on a playoff team.

Michael Beasley has a ton of potential but looks like a bust so far. He did average 15 points and 6 rebounds last season, but he'll never be the 20/10 threat most people had envisioned. He's a solid player though.

Centers

None

This entire season is predicated on how well I do in free agency. I tell Mickey Arison we'll be a playoff team around the cap, and he seemed to be okay with that. Hopefully I can make good on it.

[Myles Nelson]

We have the 18th pick, so not too shabby, but probably not a lot of talent there. I'm not really paying attention much during the draft, so when they call my name I'm slightly surprised. I take a look at my draft sheets and see who's still left.

Eric Bledsoe
Luke Babbitt
Patrick Patterson
Jordan Crawford

Also available from my targets were Da'Sean Butler and Landry Fields, but those were my targeted second rounders so I wasn't worried about those guys just yet.

Bledsoe was too small for SG and not a good enough ball handler to be a point man. Patterson was a good defender but not much else. Crawford was a solid offensive wing but he was looking like a ballhog, and Babbitt was a good defender and outside shooter, but not very athletic.

I figured defensive big men were harder to come by than shooters, so I drafted Patrick Patterson out of Kentucky with the 18th pick

When my pick came around in the 2nd round, I knew exactly who I wanted. With the 48th pick, I snagged Landry Fields out of Stanford.

Both look like solid players, Patterson is a 2.5/3 and Fields is a 2/2.5. Not bad for 18th and 48th.

When contract time comes, I don't pick up James Jones option (4.6 million is a bit high for a guy like him) and I renounce everyone except Haslem and Wade. I also extend a qualifying offer to Mario Chalmers as he is the kind of point guard I like: defensive with a great shooting stroke.

[Myles Nelson]

TRADES UP TO FREE AGENCY:

Boston trades: Glen Davis, 19th pick (who became Larry Sanders)
Philadelphia trades: Spencer Hawes
Winner: Boston. They get a solid big man who averaged 10/6 and trade away Glen Davis, a fat big man who is capable of 10/6 (10 pounds of meat, 6 liters of soda). Also, this creates a PF glut for the 76ers, with Brand/Speights/Davis/Sanders all there.

Charlotte trades: Nazr Mohammed, Alexis Ajinca
Golden State trades: Vladimir Radmanovic
Winner: Golden State. They get a good defensive big man for a slow shooter who probably shouldn't even have a job in the NBA right now.

Charlotte trades: Gerald Henderson
Chicago trades: James Johnson
Winner: Charlotte. Johnson has more value now and more upside. Henderson is a limited undersized SG.
SIDE NOTE: This trade always happens in every single game I play.

Denver trades: Ty Lawson
Memphis trades: Ekpe Udoh
Winner: Both. Denver gets an heir to Kenyon Martin/Nene with another defensive big man. Memphis gets another quick point guard to pair up with Conley.

Sacramento trades: Omri Casspi
New Orleans trades: David West
Winner: Sacramento. David West is a former all star who is a very capable scorer. Big men who can score are more valuable than a wing scorer, even one like Casspi who is still on the upswing.

Thunder trade: Nick Collison
Hornets trade: Peja Stojakovic
Winner: Hornets. Same thing as the Charlotte/Golden State trade. Thunder lose interior defense/rebounding, obtain very very overpaid shooting.

Orlando trades: Ryan Anderson
Washington trades: JaVale McGee
Winner: Both. Orlando gets a Tyson Chandler-lite to backup Dwight Howard, and Washington gets another player who can score.
SIDE NOTE: This is another trade that happens every single time as well.

[Myles Nelson]

I come into free agency with 27M cap space. The only reason I don't have more is because D-Wade and Haslem combine for 33M with their contracts.

Now my personal style of play, I like teams that can run, shoot, and defend. With that in mind, here's our wish list.

Dwyane Wade
Chris Bosh
Amar'e Stoudemire
Joe Johnson
Ray Allen
Carlos Boozer
Rudy Gay
Paul Pierce
John Salmons

I'm committed to signing only two players to max contracts. Either Wade and a big man, or a wing man and a big man. I don't want three max contracts on my books, since if one doesn't pan out then I'm screwed.

My first two max contracts? I extend them out to Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Bosh is the best defender and a damn good rebounder of the three big men I'm targeting, plus he can score in bunches.

Other players I'm targeting to supplement these stars:

Raymond Felton (a good PG is necessary on any championship team)
Chris Duhon (less shooting but better handles than Felton)
James Jones (I always get off the bench shooters)
Raja Bell (same as Jones)
Brendan Haywood (need a man in the middle)
Jermaine O'Neal (a little bit older but still effective)
Zydrunas Ilgauskas (still productive)
Josh Howard (a decent SF, who can defend and shoot)
Mike Miller (same as Howard)

If I manage to obtain Bosh, I'll probably trade Beasley away for a legitimate center or small forward, depending on Haywood. Let's see how things go.

[Myles Nelson]

FREE AGENCY

Day 1: Ray Allen resigned with the Celtics, 3 years and 36M. I think he's overpaid.

Day 2: Sacramento signs Raymond Felton, 4 years 43M. I wanted him but not at that price, so I'm hoping to get Duhon at about half the price. Josh Childress signed with Washington for 4 years and 46M, which I think is way too much for an unknown like him.

Day 3: No action.

Day 4: Dirk Nowitzki resigns for the full 6 year max contract.

Day 5: David Lee resigns with New York for 6 years and 104M.

Day 6: Dwyane Wade resigns with us for 6 years and 125M. He's well worth the money, and thanks to the way the cap works, upon signing the deal we get 7M more in cap space.

Day 7: Big day today. We resign Udonis Haslem for 4 years at 22M, opening up another 5M of cap space. Chris Duhon and Chris Bosh sign with us for 4 years at 16M and 5 years at 95M, respectively. We also resign James Jones for 3 years and 3M. Utah resigned Carlos Boozer to a 6 year max deal, Milwaukee resigned John Salmons for 3 years and 32M.

New Jersey has the biggest day though, inking LeBron James and Amar'e Stoudemire to max deals.

Day 8: New York signs Joe Johnson to a 5 year deal worth 83M, very reasonable for a player his caliber. The Clippers get Luke Ridnour for two years and 15M, which is way too much. The Cavs resign Shaq for a year at 10M, and the Knicks also get Drew Gooden on a 4 year, 40M deal. Most importantly, we got Raja Bell for 3 years and 15M. He'll be a solid backup guard.

Day 9: Paul Pierce goes to the Celtics, the Hawks sign Jermaine O'Neal to a 3 year 28M deal, Chicago signs Travis Outlaw to 2 years, 12M and Ronnie Brewer goes to the Clippers for 2 years, 13M. We sign Brendan Haywood to a 4 year, 31M deal.

Day 10: The Mavericks sign Ben Wallace to a 1 year, 7M contract, which I think is ridiculous. Will Bynum signs with the Raptors for 2 years, 15M and Kyle Lowry goes to the Celtics for 2 years, 13M which is stupid cause Bynum sucks and is way worse than Lowry. Scola goes to the bucks for 4 years, 45M which is a really good deal. Dorell Wright goes to Sacramento for 2 years, 8M, while Frye and Tolliver each get 2 year, 18M deals with the Clippers. We manage to resign Mario Chalmers to a 5 year, 7M total (around 1.4M a year) deal which is an absolute steal, as well as nabbing Josh Howard for 2 years, 7M to be our glue guy, the defender who can knock down open shots.

This gives us a pretty solid 12 man team. I might get one more wing player so I can move Fields down to the D-League where he'll get minutes, but other than that I'm done in free agency.

Day 11: We ink Wesley Matthews to a 5 year, 6M deal (1.2M a year) to be our third string wing man and injury insurance. He's a good guard who can defend, score and handle the ball, and he shows a lot of potential. Between Matthews, Fields and Beasley we've got a few swingmen who could really develop one day.

Also signed this day, Earl Barron gets a 1 year, 7M deal to play for Utah. I guess mediocre big men get big contracts these days. Nate Rob gets a 2 year, 13M deal to resign with the Celtics and Harrington gets a 4 year, 43M deal to play for Phoenix. The two biggest signings of the day though are the Bobcats getting Iverson and Tyrus Thomas each on 1 year, 6M deals, and Rudy Gay going to Minnesota for 5 years, 72M. Maybe I should have targeted Gay.

Day 12: The Hawks take a flyer on T-Mac for 2 years, 15M. Hakim Warrick goes to Memphis for 2 years, 12M and Denver signs Rasual for 2 years, 13M.

Day 13: It's starting to become filler players only now. Notable signings are Brad Miler and Rafer Alston to the Lakers, Larry Hughes to Cleveland, Kyle Korver staying in Chicago and Timofey Mozgov to the Wizards.

Day 14: Big Z to Phoenix, 2 years, 12M.

No notable signings the rest of the way.

[Myles Nelson]

A LOOK AT YOUR 2011/2012 MIAMI HEAT

PG Chris Duhon (24 minutes)

Duhon is a facilitator, plain and simple. He is a decent defender and will score perhaps 6-8 points per game, but his main strength is his ability to get others the ball.

SG Dwyane Wade (40 minutes)

Wade is our scoring superstar. He will be counted on to shoulder the scoring load and holding his own on the defensive end. I have no doubts he will be able to do this.

SF Michael Beasley (32 minutes)

Beasley has yet to live up to his potential, but he still has time. I wonder if a shake up in his position will help at all. He will be a tall SF, but he can shoot and rebound, so perhaps that might help him.

PF Chris Bosh (40 minutes)

Bosh is my other superstar. He'll be our post option in the offense and will also be counted on to help Wade do damage to opposing teams. He will anchor the middle on defense and supply rebounds and blocked shots.

C Brendan Haywood (32 minutes)

Haywood's job is simple: play stellar defense. Block shots, disrupt layups, get boards, and get the occasional putback layup or post shot. That's about it.

2nd String
Udonis Haslem (18 minutes)
Raja Bell (26 minutes)
Josh Howard (16 minutes)
Patrick Patterson (6 minutes)
Mario Chalmers (6 minutes)

Haslem is the defensive big man, who can also step out and hit a jump shot. Bell and Howard are very similar off the bench, in that they will both lock down opposing players and hit shots when needed. Patterson and Chalmers will get more PT than shown here, but do need time to develop. Both will be counted on to play defense.

3rd String
Wes Matthews (0)
James Jones (0)

These two guys will need to be available at any time, whether due to foul trouble, injury, or we need threes at the end of the game (Jones specifically for that one).

D-League
Landry Fields
Jerome Randle

I think both of these players are highly underrated and have a future in the NBA as solid starters. They are just a few years away.

[Myles Nelson]

SLAM PRESEASON RANKINGS

Western Conference
1. Los Angeles Lakers (Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Ron Artest, Pau Gasol Andrew Bynum)
2. Sacramento Kings (Raymond Felton, Tyreke Evans, Al Farouq Aminu, David West, Jason Thompson / Carl Landry)
3. Denver Nuggets (Chauncey Billups, JR Smith, Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Nene Hilario / Ekpe Udoh)
4. Utah Jazz (Deron Williams, Quentin Richardson, Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur / Paul Millsap)
5. Dallas Mavericks (Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Caron Butler, Dirk Nowitzki, Ben Wallace / Shawn Marion)
6. Portland Trail Blazers (Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, Nic Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marcus Camby / Greg Oden)
7. San Antonio Spurs (Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Mike Miller, Tiago Splitter, Tim Duncan / Richard Jefferson, George Hill)
8. Minnesota Timberwolves (Ricky Rubio, Corey Brewer, Rudy Gay, Kevin Love, Al Jefferson / DeMarcus Cousins, Jonny Flynn)

9. Golden State Warriors (Steph Curry, Monta Ellis, Reggie Williams, Anthony Randolph, Andris Biedrins / Derrick Favors, Kelenna Azubuike)
10. Los Angeles Clippers (Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Paul George, Blake Griffin, Chris Kaman)
11. Oklahoma City Thunder (Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Serge Ibaka)
12. Houston Rockets (Aaron Brooks, Kevin Martin, Trevor Ariza, Chuck Hayes, Yao Ming / Shane Battier)
13. Memphis Grizzlies (Mike Conley, OJ Mayo, Hakim Warrick, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol)
14. New Orleans Hornets (Chris Paul, Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton, Gordon Hayward, Emeka Okafor)
15. Phoenix Suns (Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, Al Harrington, Robin Lopez)

Eastern Conference (Starting 5/Key Bench, if any)
1. New Jersey Nets (Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, LeBron James, Yi Jianlian, Amar'e Stoudemire / Brook Lopez)
2. Miami Heat (Chris Duhon, Dwyane Wade, Michael Beasley, Chris Bosh, Brendan Haywood / Udonis Haslem)
3. Orlando Magic (Jameer Nelson, Vince Carter, Mickael Pietrus, Rashard Lewis, Dwight Howard)
4. Milwaukee Bucks (Brandon Jennings, John Salmons, Corey Maggette, Luis Scola, Andrew Bogut)
5. New York Knicks (Joe Johnson, Xavier Henry, Wilson Chandler, David Lee, Drew Gooden / Danilo Gallinari)
6. Boston Celtics (Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Spencer Hawes / Kendrick Perkins, Kyle Lowry)
7. Atlanta Hawks (Mike Bibby, Jamal Crawford, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, Al Horford / Tracy McGrady)
8. Indiana Pacers (TJ Ford, Brandon Rush, Danny Granger, Troy Murphy, Greg Monroe / Roy Hibbert)

9. Chicago Bulls (Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah)
10. Philadelphia 76ers (Louis Williams, Evan Turner, Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, Marreese Speights / Thaddeus Young)
11. Washington Wizards (John Wall, Gilbert Arenas, Josh Childress, Andray Blatche, Ryan Anderson)
12. Charlotte Bobcats (Allen Iverson, Stephen Jackson, Gerald Wallace, Boris Diaw, Tyrus Thomas / Tyson Chandler)
13. Cleveland Cavaliers (Mo Williams, Delonte West, Larry Hughes, Antawn Jamison, Anderson Varejao / Shaquille O'Neal)
14. Detroit Pistons (Rodney Stuckey, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Charlie Villanueva, Cole Aldrich)
15. Toronto Raptors (Jose Calderon, Jarrett Jack, Hedo Turkoglu, Andrea Bargnani, Ed Davis)

[zike_42]

Is that seriously the Lakers' starting five? Wow, talk about overloading on height. Great job with the Heat as most people try and go all out but you have made a good all around team. I like the pick up of Patterson, he should be good in a few years.

[Myles Nelson]

The Lakers tend to do that quite often from what I can tell. They'll probably still let Fish and Alston get extensive minutes off the bench at PG and slide everyone down accordingly, but they always start with Kobe at PG. I mean that's a lineup of 6'7, 6'10, 6'9, 7' and 7'1. Pretty tall right there.

And I definitely didn't want to create a superteam. I wanted a balanced squad. Wade and Bosh have some good role players around them, although I am concerned since Duhon and Beasley aren't fantastic outside shooters that other teams will pack the paint when my starting 5 are out there. I would. I kind of counteracted that by filling my bench with shooters (Bell, Howard, Chalmers, Jones) and hopefully Spoelstra responds by benching Duhon in the 4th quarter, but I doubt it.